Tuesday, July 10, 2012

After a long holiday week punctuated by two playlists of summertime music from the Zac Brown Band and rising country star JT Hodges, we’re getting back to work -- and our job is finding ways to distract you with fantastic music offerings. Go forth and be distracted!

You might think the lead singer of System of a Down would be all about the METAL. And of course he is. But Serj Tankian has carved out a persona beyond that of lead singer: his ambitious 2010 album Imperfect Harmonies saw him playing with multiple genres and time signatures and breaking out of any hard rock ghetto he might have been in. Today he releases his new album Harakiri, and we discover that if you give the man a chance to share his favorite music videos, you’ll quickly lose all preconceptions about him. Would you have thought he dug jazz fusion, Tom Waits and Cape Verdean morna? Neither did we.

It’s been five years since Aesop Rock’s last album. The emcee known for his off-kilter flow and surreal lyrics has seen a lot of life changes in the intervening years, so it’s not surprising his new album Skelethon is a dark affair. It’s also one of his best. Entirely self-produced and suffused with angular, muddy beats, Skelethon drips with head-spinning lyricism that as enjoyable to listen to as it is to decipher. It’s perfectly complemented by a high-speed video shot at a go-kart track. That’s right: we have Aesop Rock’s new album in it entirety today, with a video. Peep it.

Yes, it’s a mouthful. But before you get totally intimidated by the name, keep reading! This video was one of the most-liked music videos in the world yesterday, so naturally we had to watch it. We can tell you this: the band hails from Poland, they seem to think accordions and hip-hop belong together (bless them), and they made a hilarious and weirdly beautiful video which partly involves them spoofing what passes for video games in rural Poland. (Hint: chickens are involved.) You may not speak the language, but you’ll get the message: this is fun stuff.